My Small Town Break

J-term is over! It felt weird to study for a final because I had only had the one class for a month. My final was not that bad, it was an essay test. I was happy to be done with my class, and homework. We had a break for five days before second semester started. The first half of the break I spent in Manchester with Chris and second half I spent in Hayfield with my girlfriends. Both were small towns, so my break experience was a little different than going home to the cities.

I went to Manchester with Chris Friday night after I was done with my final. His parents took us out to dinner in town. I realized how different life is in a small town. When we were at the restaurant Chris and his parents knew everyone. We didn't even ask to sit down right away, instead we chatted with people leaving. I really liked it. The next day we just hung out at his house, we went skiing and watched his younger sister play volleyball. Chris gave me the official tour of Manchester, which is a town of about 5,000. There was a little downtown consisting of a movie theater, a couple of stores, a restaurant or two, and even a street light! It was very relaxing. Sunday Chris and I went back to Luther where I met up with Caitlin and Emily.

Caitlin's mom picked us up at Luther Sunday night and drove us to her house in Hayfield, Minnesota. It was nice to be back in Minnesota. Hayfield is a town of 1,500 people! My high school was bigger than the town!! Emily, Caitlin, and I hung out and watched movies. Courtney joined us on Monday night. We made macaroni and cheese and valentine cupcakes! It was nice because I really missed macaroni. The four of us just goofed off and enjoyed being in a small town. Tuesday we were going to go in to Rochester, which is only about half hour away from Hayfield, but the blizzard conditions kept us from traveling. We tried to get into Rochester because Courtney needed to get home, but it was a complete white out. Right before we were going to turn around we ended up hitting a car who was turning around. Needless to say we got in a car accident. Luckily no one was hurt because we weren't driving very fast, but it was still scary. Shortly after the accident a man pulled over, he was the fire chief in Hayfield who Caitlin knew really well because she lives in a small town. The fire chief called Fred in town who had a tow truck. Thankfully Hayfield is a small town where everyone knows everyone else. I am glad that we were in a small town as opposed to being in the city.

My break was very relaxing, and enjoyable. I am ready and excited to start second semester! Have a great rest of the week!-Leah

My top 10 for J-term

The top 10 things I didn't do during J-term that I thought I would
1). Have free time
2). Read mutiple books for fun
3). Go skiing frequently
4). Play piano for fun
5). Practice my flute more
6). Write letters
7). Enjoy not having a lot of homework
8). Have movie night every night
9). Learn how to knit with Emily
10). Spend more time socializing

Top 10 amazing things about J-term
1). Being able to sleep in every day.
2). Being able to stay up later because I knew I would be able to sleep in.
3). Being on full board, which means unlimited meals.
4). Spending my J-term break in Manchester, Iowa with Chris and Hayfield, Minnesota with my girlfriends.
5). Track practice started.
6). Having only one class to worry about.
7). Celebrating a lot of fun birthdays.
8). My cousin Kayla from Maple Grove, Minnesota came to visit.
9). It snowed a lot so I was able to use my skies.
10). A lot of people had friends come and visit, and it was fun to meet them.

One Week and Counting!

So I only have one week left of my j-term class, and I am excited because it is almost time for the break! I am taking a philosophy class, and we are reading Plato's Republic. At first I did not really like it. The reading took me a long time to do because it was so complex and abstract, but I have started to get the hang of it. Plus the topics that we are discussing are starting to become more interesting to me. The downside is that I have a lot more homework than I thought I would. Every day I have about 70 pages of reading and then a 500 word response to write. On average it takes me between 2-3 hours to do my homework.

I have come to realize that people were wrong when they said j-term was a piece of cake. I think that the hardest part is having the motivation and willpower to actually sit down and do homework. The work itself isn't that bad, but getting started is the worst part. The problem is that people gave me the impression that j-term was easy and fun and that I would have a ton of free time. Boy were they wrong! And when my parents had J-term years ago at St. Bens and St. Johns, their classes were pass/fail. Not so at Luther! Since I started the term thinking that I would have endless hours of free time every day, it has been really difficult for me to switch gears and be productive and do homework. Even though many times j-term is a drag and I tend to feel overwhelmed more often than not, for the most part I like it.

The nice part about j-term is that there is a lot more time for socializing. My girlfriends and I are watching a lot more movies and chatting a lot more. However, it makes doing homework a lot harder. I am really busy this j-term because I am lifeguarding a lot, and I joined the track team, which means at least 2 hours of practice every day. By the time I am back in my room I just want to relax, but I can't because I have homework. It is more difficult to focus during j-term especially since my girlfriends don't get quite as much homework as I do and none of them are in a winter sport. They are all having more of the carefree j-term that I had anticipated for myself. Life is not fair!

Although I am enjoying my philosophy course, I am glad that it is only a month long because I have come to realize that I am much more of a science math person than I thought! Looking back I think that I will be very glad that I chose the j-term course that I did. Hopefully it will help make my transition into second semester a lot smoother. Only one week left. Can’t believe how fast the month has gone!

Caucus and Birthday Mania

My break ended up being pretty good. The only downside was that when I got my wisdom teeth out, they got infected. A last minute trip back to the oral surgeon and some penicillin has appeared to clear up that problem. It was nice to see my high school friends again over break, although I was definitely ready to get back to campus.

Thursday was Caitlin's birthday. We made her wear a crown, pink boa, and a sash that said Birthday Girl. As much as Caitlin pretended to not like her birthday get-up, I am sure that she secretly loved it! Thursday night was also the night of the Iowa caucus. We went to Jensen Music Hall, and caucused for Barack Obama- Caitlin was still decked out in her birthday apparel. It was much different than I thought it would be. We just sat in the performance hall in the section designated for the candidate we were supporting. There was a lot more waiting around than I thought there would be. It was a little boring, but the company made it fun. It would have been more interesting if I was undecided because then representatives from each campaign would have been working to convince me to support their candidate. I was glad that I went though, because it made me feel grown up.


Friday we went out for dinner to celebrate Caitlin's and Chris's (from first floor) birthday. We had a group of fourteen, so it was really fun. The girls on my floor are all really close. We hang out a lot. I think that it is because we live in Olson. At first I did not like living in Olson because the dorm is on the edge of campus and we are by ourselves. However now I realize that it has made everyone on my floor become better friends. For a bunch of young women often stressed, pmsing at various times or all at the same time, we get a long surprisingly well and laugh a lot together. Usually we eat at least dinner together, and I find that when people are missing, I miss the girls who aren't there. I feel lucky that we all have so much fun together. Plus I think it makes birthdays a lot more fun because everyone goes out to celebrate together. It's like the big extended family party you have at home, but no gifts from Grandmas or little cousins. It's so nice to be back on campus anticipating a change of pace with j-term. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season-Leah